Supervised Independent Language Courses

Questions? Email fclrc@hfa.umass.edu, call 413-542-5264 (413-542-LANG), or attend a drop-in session. Ready to Apply? Check out How to Apply.

The Five College Supervised Independent Language Program (FCSILP) offers students with excellent language learning skills an opportunity to study languages not currently offered in classroom courses at any of the Five Colleges. The program admits highly-motivated students with a record of past success in language learning. Students admitted to the program normally have done very well in previous language courses and demonstrate readiness to undertake independent work.

Conversation sessions for languages offered in the Supervised independent format meet on the home campus of the native speaking conversation partner assigned to each section. Conversation partners are spread out among all five campuses. Each student is assigned to whichever conversation section can best meet his/her educational needs with preference given to a home campus or nearby campus location when possible. Ready to Apply? Check out How to Apply.

Spring 2017 Languages

Note: Five College students who are native speakers of these languages can explore employment opportunities with the Center.

** Special requirements for Cantonese for Mandarin Speakers. Open to students who are native speakers or advanced speakers of Mandarin Chinese or another Chinese dialect; open to high beginner / intermediate-level heritage speakers of Cantonese who have taken at least one year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent, a placement is required. An Asian Language major or Asian Studies major must have his/her academic advisor's permission in order to enroll.

Languages of the Americas: Haitian Creole (limited availability)

Limited availability languages: There are some languages for which the program may not have enough conversation partners to admit new students, or for which we may not currently have any conversation partner available but continue to search for one. Depending upon the situation, applications will be put on hold or on a waiting list. For languages where there are many applications for very few spots, students may be asked for additional information to backup the application.

Other languages may be added. Some languages become unavailable for a given semester. Some languages may appear in the catalog but only be available intermittently. To find out the status of your language of interest, please e-mail for more information.

Course Format

An FCSILP course consists of three components:

One hour a day of independent study using a combination of textbooks, workbooks, audio and video materials, software, and online materials (course components vary by language);

A weekly conversation practice session led by a native-speaking conversation partner;

A final oral evaluation given by a professor accredited in the target language.

Pacing and Credit

Supervised Independent courses are half courses. It takes four half courses (levels I, II, III, and IV) to complete the equivalent of a year-long elementary-level course emphasizing speaking and listening proficiency. Half courses require a minimum of 1 hour per day (7 hours per week) of individual study plus a weekly 60-minute conversation session. Level I courses in languages with complex scripts meet for an extra 30 minutes each week for handwriting and reading practice.

The syllabus for each level defines the amount of material a student must learn during the semester. Students normally need to commit 7 hours a week to language study in order to master the material. Students are always welcome to move faster than the assigned pace. Students who get significantly ahead of the assigned syllabus should communicate with the program staff to see what accommodations might be made to facilitate the faster pace.

Course Numbers

FCSILP courses are available for credit to students at Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The courses are registered through the University of Massachusetts Amherst under the FORLANGC department abbreviation.

The best way to find out current details about available languages and levels is to consult directly with program staff members. Because the Center offers so many individualized courses and availability changes depending upon the availability of native speaking conversation partners, the online course catalogs are not up to date with what is currently available. Please consult directly with the Center about the availability of languages at all levels, especially courses above the elementary level because we often only request course numbersfor upper-level courses when a student is ready to enroll.

We will see that each admitted student gets the course information necessary to complete registration through his/her home campus.

Course Levels

The standard elementary-level course sequence consists of the four half-courses Levels I, II, III, and IV. Students who complete level IV or who reach intermediate or advanced level proficiency through study abroad or other means should contact fclrc@hfa.umass.edu to find out about upper-level conversation/discussion course options. Levels V through VIII may be available by special arrangement in many languages.